A FREE INTRO TO THEOSOPHY
The
Planetary Chains
From
A
Textbook of Theosophy
By
C
The scheme of evolution of which our Earth forms a part
is not the only one in our solar system, for ten separate chains of globes
exist in that system which are all of them theatres of somewhat similar
progress. Each of these schemes of evolution is taking place upon a chain of
globes, and in the course of each scheme its chain of globes goes through seven
incarnations. The plan, alike of each scheme as a whole and of the successive
incarnations of its chain of globes, is to dip step by step more deeply into
matter, and then to rise step by step out of it again.
Each chain consists of seven globes, and both globes
and chains observe the rule of descending into matter and then rising out of it
again. In order to make this comprehensible let us take as an example the chain
to which our Earth belongs.
At the present time it is in its fourth or most
material incarnation, and therefore three of its globes belong to the physical
world, two to the astral world and two to the lower part of the mental world.
The wave of Divine Life passes in succession from globe to globe of this chain,
beginning with one of the highest, descending gradually to the lowest and then
climbing again to the same level as that at which it began.
Let us for convenience of reference label the seven
globes by the earlier letters of the alphabet, and number the incarnations in
order. Thus, as this is the fourth incarnation of our chain, the first globe in
this incarnation will be 4A, the second 4B, the third 4C, the fourth (which is
our Earth) 4D, and so on.
These globes are not all composed of physical matter.
4A contains no matter lower than that of the mental world; it has its
counterpart in all the worlds higher than that, but nothing below it. 4B exists
in the astral world; but 4C is a physical globe, visible to our telescope, and
is in fact the planet which we know as Mars. Globe 4D is our own Earth, on
which the life-wave of the chain is at present in action. Globe 4E is the
planet which we call Mercury – also in the physical
world. Globe 4F is in the astral world, corresponding
on the ascending arc to globe 4B in the descent; while globe 4G corresponds to
globe 4A in having its lowest manifestation in the lower part of the mental
world. Thus it will be seen that we have a scheme of globes starting in the
lower mental world, dipping through the astral into the physical and then
rising into the lower mental through the astral again.
Just as the succession of the globes in a chain
constitutes a descent into matter and an ascent from it again, so do the
successive incarnations of a chain. We have described the condition of affairs
in the fourth incarnation; looking back at the third, we find that that
commences not on the lower level of the mental world but on the higher. Globes
3A and 3G, then, are both of higher mental matter, while globes (Page123) 3B
and 3F are at the lower mental level. Globes 3C and 3E belong to the astral
world, and only globe 3D is visible in the physical world. Although this third
incarnation of our chain is long past, the corpse of this physical globe 3D is
still visible to us in the shape of that dead planet the Moon, whence that
third incarnation is usually called the lunar chain.
The fifth incarnation of our chain, which still lies
very far in the future, will correspond to the third. In that, globes 5A and 5G
will be built of higher mental matter, globes 5B and 5F of lower mental matter,
globes 5C and 5E of astral matter, and only globe 5D will be in the physical
world. This planet 5D is of course not yet in existence.
The other incarnations of the chain follow the same
general rule of gradually decreasing materiality; 2A, 2G, 6A and 6G are all in
the intuitional world; 2B, 2F, 6B and 6F are all in the higher part of the
mental world; 2C, 2E, 6C and 6E are in the lower part of the mental world; 2D
and 6D are in the astral world. In the same way 1A, 1G, 7A and 7G belong to the
spiritual world; 1B, 1F, 7B and 7F are in the intuitional world; 1C, 1E, 7C and
7E are in the higher part of the mental world; 1D and 7D are in the lower part
of the mental world.
Thus it will be seen that not only does the life-wave
in passing through one chain of globes dip down into matter and rise out of it
again, but the chain itself in its successive incarnations does exactly the
same thing.
There are ten schemes of evolution at present existing
in our solar system, but only seven of them are at the stage where they have
planets in the physical world.
These are:
(1) that of an unrecognized planet Vulcan, very near the
sun, about which we have very little definite information. It was seen by the
astronomer Hersche, but is now said to have disappeared. We at firstunderstood
that it was in its third incarnation; but it is now regarded as possible that
it has recently passed from its fifth to its sixth chain, which would account
for its alleged disappearance;
(2) that of Venus, which is in its fifth incarnation,
and also therefore has only one visible globe;
(3) that of the Earth, Mars and Mercury, which has
three visible planets because it is in its fourth incarnation;
(4) that of Jupiter,
(5) that of Saturn,
(6) that of Uranus, all in their third incarnations;
and
(7) that of
In each incarnation of a chain (commonly called a
chain-period) the wave of Divine Life moves seven times round the chain of
seven planets, and each such movement is spoken of as a round. The time that
the life-wave stays upon each planet, is known as a world-period, and in the
course of a world-period there are seven great root-races. As has been
previously explained, these are subdivided into sub-races, and those again into
branch races. For convenience of reference we may state this in tabular form:
7 Branch-Races 1- Sub-Race
7 Sub-Races 1-Root-Race
7 Root-Races1-World-Period
7 World-Periods 1-Round
7 Rounds1-Chain-Period
7 Chain-Periods 1-Scheme of Evolution
10 Schemes of EvolutionOur System Evolution
It is clear that the fourth root-race of the fourth
globe of the fourth round of a fourth chain-period would be the central point
of a whole scheme of evolution, and we find ourselves at the present moment
only a little past the point. The Aryan race, to which we belong, is the fifth
root-race of the fourth globe, so that the actual middle point fell in the time
of the last great root-race, the Atlantean. Consequently the human race as a
whole is very little more than
halfway through its evolution, and those few souls who
are already nearing Adeptship, which is the end and crown of this evolution,
are very far in advance of their fellows.
How do they come to be so far in advance? Partly and
in some cases because they have worked harder, but usually because they are
older egos – because they were individualized out of the animal kingdom at an
earlier date, and so have had
more time for the human part of their evolution.
Any given wave of life sent forth from the Deity
usually spends a chain-period in each of the great kingdoms of nature. That
which in our first chain was ensouling the first elemental kingdom must have
ensouled in the second of those kingdoms in the second chain, the third of them
in the Moon-chain, and is now in the mineral kingdom in the fourth chain. In
the future fifth chain it will ensoul the vegetable kingdom, in the sixth the
animal, and in the seventh it will attain humanity.
From this it follows that we ourselves represented the
mineral kingdom on the first chain, the vegetable on the second, and the animal
on the lunar chain. There some of us attained our individualization, and so we
were enabled to enter this Earth-chain as men. Others who were a little more
backward did not succeed in attaining it, and so had to be born into this chain
as animals for a while before they could reach humanity.
Not all of mankind, however, entered this chain
together. When the lunar chain came to its end the humanity upon it stood at
various levels. Not Adeptship, but what is now for us the fourth step on the
Path, was the goal appointed for that chain. Those who had attained it
(commonly called in theosophical literature the Lords of the Moon) had, as is
usual, seven choices before them as to the way in which they would serve. Only
one of those choices brought them, or rather a few of them, over into this
Earth-chain, to act as guides and teachers to the earlier races. A considerable
proportion – a vast proportion, indeed – of the Moon-men had not attained that
level, and consequently had to appear in this Earth-chain as humanity. Besides
this, a great mass of the animal kingdom of the Moon-chain was surging up to
the level of individualization, and some of its members had already reached it,
while many others had not. These latter needed further animal incarnations upon
the Earth-chain, and for the moment may be put aside.
There were many classes even among humanity, and the
manner in which these distributed themselves over the Earth-chain needs some
explanation. It is the general rule that those who have attained the highest
possible in any chain, on any globe, in any root-race, are not born into the
beginning of the next chain, globe or race, respectively. The earlier stages
are always for the backwardentities, and only when they have already passed
through a good deal of evolution and are beginning to approach the level of
those others who had done better, do the latter descend into incarnation and
join them once more. That is to say, almost the earlier half of any period of
evolution, whether it be a race, a globe or a chain, seems to be devoted to
bringing the backward people up to nearly the level of those who have got on
better; then these latter also (who, in the meantime, have been resting in
great enjoyment in the mental world) descend into incarnation along with the
others, and they press on together until the end of the period.
Thus the first of the egos from the Moon who entered
the Earth-chain were by no means the most advanced. Indeed they may be
described as the least advanced of those who had succeeded in attaining
humanity – the animal-men. Coming as they did into a chain of new globes,
freshly aggregated, they had to establish the forms in all the different
kingdoms of Nature. This needs to be done at the beginning of the first round
in a new chain, but never after that; for though the life-wave is centered only
upon one of the seven globes of a chain at any given time, yet life has not
entirely departed from the other globes. At the
present moment, for example, the life-wave of our
chain is centered in this Earth, but on the other two physical globes of our
chain, Mars and Mercury, life still exists. There is still a population, human,
animal and vegetable, andconsequently when the life-wave goes round again to
either of those planets there will be no necessity for the creation of new
forms. The old types are already there, and all that will happen will be a sudden marvellous fecundity, so
that the various kingdoms will quickly increase and multiply, and make a
rapidly increasing population instead of a stationary one.
It was, then, the animal-men, the lowest class of
human beings of the Moon-chain, who established the forms in the first round of
the Earth-chain. Pressing closely after them were the highest of the lunar
animal kingdom, who were soon ready to occupy the forms which had just been
made. In the second journey round the seven globes of the Earth-chain, the
animal-men who had been the most backward of the lunar humanity were leaders of
this terrene humanity, the highest of the moon-animals making its less
developed grades. The same thing went on in the third round of the Earth-chain,
more and more of the lunar animals attaining individualization and joining the
human ranks, until in the middle of that round on this very globe D which we
call the Earth, a higher class of human beings – the Second Order of moon-men –
descended into incarnation and at once took the lead.
When we come to the fourth, our present round, we find
the First Order of the moon-men pouring in upon us – all the highest and the
best of the lunar humanity who had only just fallen short of success. Some of
those who had already, even on the Moon, entered upon the Path soon attained
its end, became Adepts and passed away from the Earth. Some few others who had
not been quite so far advanced have attained Adeptship only comparatively
recently – that is, within the last few thousand years, and these are the
Adepts of the present day.
We, who find ourselves in the higher races of humanity
now, were several stages behind Them, but the opportunity lies before us of
following in Their steps if we will.
The evolution of which we have been speaking is that
of the ego himself, of what might be called the soul of man; but at the same
time there has been also an evolution of the body. The forms built in the first
round were very different from any of which we know anything now. Properly
speaking, those which were made on our physical earth can scarcely be called
forms at all, for they were constructed of etheric matter only, and resembled
vague, drifting and almost shapeless clouds. In the second round they were
definitely physical, but still shapeless and light enough to float about in
currents of wind.
Only in the third round did they begin to bear any
kind of resemblance to man as we know him today. The very methods of
reproduction of those primitive forms differed from those of humanity today,
and far more resembled those which we now find only in very much lower types of
life. Man in those early days was androgynous, and a definite separation into
the sexes took place only about the middle of the third round. From that time
onward until now the shape of man has been steadily evolving along definitely human
lines, becoming smaller and more compact than it was, learning to stand upright
instead of stooping and crawling, and generally differentiating itself from the
animal forms out of which it had been evolved.
One curious break in the regularity of this evolution
deserves mention. On this globe, in this fourth round, there was a departure
from the straightforward scheme of evolution. This being the middle globe of a
middle round, the midmost point of evolution upon it marked the last movement
at which it was possible for members of what had been the lunar animal kingdom
to attain individualization.
Consequently a sort of strong effort was made – a
special scheme was arranged to give a final chance to as many as possible. The
conditions of the first and second rounds were specially reproduced in place of
the first and second races – conditions of which in the earlier rounds these
backward egos had not been able fully to take advantage. Now, with the
additional evolution which they had undergone during the third round, some of
them were able to take suchadvantage, and so they rushed in at the very last
moment before the door was shut, and became just human. Naturally they will not
reach any high level of human development, but at least when they try again in
some future chain it will be some advantage to them to have had even this
slight experience of human life.
Our terrestrial evolution received a most valuable
stimulus from the assistance given to us by our sister globe, Venus. Venus is
at present in the fifth incarnation of its chain, and in the seventh round of
that incarnation, so that its inhabitants are a whole chain and a half in front
of us in evolution.
Since, therefore, its people are so much more
developed than ours, it was thought desirable that certain Adepts from the
Venus evolution should be transferred to our Earth in order to assist in the
specially busy time just before the closing of the door, in the middle of the
fourth root-race.
These august Beings have been called the Lords of the Flame
and the Children of the Fire-mist, and They have produced a wonderful effect
upon ourevolution. The intellect of which we are so proud is almost entirely
due to Their presence, for in the natural course of events the next round, the
fifth, should be that of intellectual advancement, and in this our present
fourth round we should be devoting ourselves chiefly to the cultivation of the
emotions. We are therefore in reality a long way in advance of the program
marked out for us; and such advance is entirely due to the assistance given by
these great Lords of the Flame. Most of Them stayed with us only through that
critical period of our history; a few still remain to hold the highest offices
of the Great White Brotherhood until the time when men of our own evolution
shall have risen to such a height as to be capable of relieving their august
Visitors.
The evolution lying before us in both of the life and
of the form; for in future rounds, while the egos will be steadily growing in
power, wisdom and love, the physical forms also will be more beautiful and more
perfect than they have ever yet been. We have in this world at the present time
men at widely differing stages of evolution, and it is clear that there are
vast hosts of savages who are far behind the great civilized races of the world
– so far behind that it is quite impossible that they can overtake them. Later
on in the course of our evolution a point will be reached at which it is no
longer possible for those undeveloped souls to advance side by side with the
others, so that it will be necessary that a division should be made.
The proceeding is exactly analogous to the sorting out
by a schoolmaster of the boys in his class. During the school year he has to
prepare his boys for a certain examination, and by perhaps the middle of that
school year he knows quite well which of them will pass it. If he should have
in his class some who are hopelessly behind the rest, he might reasonably say
to them when the middle period was reached:
“It is quite useless for you to continue with your
fellows, for the more difficult lessons which I shall now have to give will be
entirely unintelligible to you. It is impossible that you can learn enough in
the time to pass the examination, so that the effort would only be a useless
strain for you, and meantime you would be a hindrance to the rest of the class.
It is therefore far better for you to give upstriving after the impossible, and
to take up again the work of the lower class which you did not do perfectly,
and then to offer yourselves for this examination along with next year’s class,
for what is now impossible for you will then be
easy”.
This is in effect exactly what is said at a certain
stage in our future evolution, to the most backward egos. They drop out of this
year’s class and come along with the next one. This is the “aeonian
condemnation” to which reference was made a little while ago. It is computed
that about two fifths of humanity will drop out of the class in this way,
leaving the remaining three fifths to go on with far greater rapidity to the
glorious destinies which lie before them.
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Classic Introductory
Theosophy Text
A Text Book of
Theosophy By C W Leadbeater
What Theosophy Is
From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death
Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life
The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
Preface
Theosophy and the Masters General Principles
The Earth Chain Body and Astral Body Kama – Desire
Manas Of Reincarnation Reincarnation Continued
Karma Kama Loka
Devachan
Cycles
Arguments Supporting Reincarnation
Differentiation Of Species Missing Links
Psychic Laws, Forces, and Phenomena
Psychic Phenomena and Spiritualism
Karma Fundamental Principles Laws: Natural and Man-Made The Law of Laws
The Eternal Now
Succession
Causation The Laws of Nature A Lesson of The Law
Karma Does Not Crush Apply This Law
Man in The Three Worlds Understand The Truth
Man and His Surroundings The Three Fates
The Pair of Triplets Thought, The Builder
Practical Meditation Will and Desire
The Mastery of Desire Two Other Points
The Third Thread Perfect Justice
Our Environment
Our Kith and Kin Our Nation
The Light for a Good Man Knowledge of Law The Opposing Schools
The More Modern View Self-Examination Out of the Past
Old Friendships
We Grow By Giving Collective Karma Family Karma
National Karma
India’s Karma
National Disasters
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